Fresh off the Boat premiered last night on ABC as the first mainstream comedy about an Asian family. The comedy turned the struggles of Chinese immigrants into a hilarious show.

With my Chinese point of view, I started watching the pilot with a little nervousness and a strong curiosity. I was also hoping I wouldn’t be offended by it because it is so groundbreaking and has already had its fair share of of controversies. But once the show started, I found myself relating to situations displayed in the plots.

It starts with the Huang family originally from Taiwan, moving from China Town in Washington D.C. to Orlando to realize their American dreams. The same went for my family, the Huangs had to deal with accommodation for school, making a living, and the community.

Drifting away from the Chinese community, every member of the family tries to fit in with the mostly white neighborhood. Based on my experiences, the first two episodes are accurate in which the kid, Eddie, has a hard time fitting in, the mom, Jessica, was frustrated having to stay on the same page with dramatized American housewives, and the dad, Louise, struggled with business problems.

With a little exaggeration, stereotypes and causations for the problematic situations shown, I’ll have to stay, stereotypes are one thing that Asians can never avoid.

First off, the show plays with names, which makes perfect sense when it comes to Asians. I struggle with people calling my name, just as Eddie does when he interrupted the teacher as she introduced his English name. On the other hand, the American housewives made fun of Jessica’s name, because they thought it should be more ‘exotic’.

It is also easily seen that the lack of respect from white people plays a big part in emphasizing the hardships on both Eddie and Jessica, by deliberately making Americans mean.

The lunch situation of Eddie’s is also typical in reality. Chinese are often not welcomed at lunch tables, and they are already reserved because they are intimidated by flocks of Americans and tend to shy away or do not even have lunch.

However, stereotypes for white people are portrayed as well. When the friend of Eddie’s got his straight C report card, he was as excited just as Eddie was, who got Straight As. In China’s opinion, Americans never seem to study. In the show, Jessica explicitly stated that it seems like Americans do not care about future and success.

This leads into the ‘tiger mom’ situation. Perhaps my favorite part of the first two episode is when Eddie got straight As, his mom went directly to the principal, and said “the school is too easy”, and inquired about CLC, which stands for Chinese Learning Center.

The other part that made me laugh is when the principal met with parents for a serious safety concern, Jessica shot her hand up, and inquired about the date that report cards would be sent home.

The stereotype of Asians being inherently smart is depicted. The reality is Chinese people were born into the competitive world, which drives students and parents to be wary of grades and studying. As for Chinese Learning Center, parents and teachers do encourage students to participate in afterschool programs, depriving time for fun or with friends, contrasting American schools, where “unhealthy competition” is not encouraged.

Despite the competitive side of studying, Eddie made a point that perhaps almost every Asian can relate, ‘no friends, no distraction’. When I first came here, I accomplished a lot academically and did everything extremely well, because I did not have friends, and the situation does apply to most of the Chinese.

Interestingly, there are also many other Chinese traits embedded in the show, such as parents bribing the principal with coupons, grandma on the side speaking Chinese, and Jessica shouting and almost fighting with people, possibly because of the price when she was getting groceries at the market in China town. These details serves the comedy perfectly with something new that Americans probably would never be aware of. However, these ridiculous details were what make the show vivid, goofy, and laughable.

Perhaps the only point I would disagree with would be the explicit kiss of the parents, because Chinese do not directly show their love for each other. However, the show turned it around by itself, when it stressed that ‘love you’ means nothing in the family.

I recalled that one of the last couple lines of the pilot is “My parents want me to be stronger,” by Eddie. It is true that the entire family grew stronger because of their experiences, and bonded even closer, both in the show and in reality. At the end of the second episode, there is also an attitude twist, when Jessica loses her kids to basketball, implying a gradually changing mentality for each character.

Overall, I would say the show has never made me feel uneasy up to this point. I would also reject the argument that the plot is dragging. Instead, I appreciate its tightness and tiny details that make the show more realistic. The all-Asian cast did an outstanding job to tune the audience in with accurate expression of emotions and strong characterization.

The unprecedented show has a moderate control on the contexts and ideas presented with a little hyperbole, strong characterizations, and comparatively accurate grasp of Asians’ life in America. For me, I will keep following the goofy show reflecting the reality because of such a refreshing and different perspective.